Command and Conquer 4 Multiplayer Hands-on

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Grab four friends, some tiberium and rack up kills.

By Jeff Haynes

It's been known for a number of months that Command and Conquer 4, the upcoming real time strategy game, would be the last chapter in the fifteen year Tiberium saga between GDI and Nod. However, until now, there have only been limited details on the single player experience or the persistent nature of the game itself. Multiplayer details, on the other hand, have been few and far between, until now. At a recent press event, EA allowed a handful of game editors to sit behind a keyboard and mouse to control our troops against five of their testers. What came out of the four gameplay session was a better understanding of the five on five multiplayer mode, how the tactical classes work and how the game's persistence will extend across the entire game.

During our play session, we wound up fighting across one map known as Blood and Sand, a hexagonal map set within a desert landscape. Scattered around the map were circular landing pads where every few minutes, machines would drop off two separate kinds of Tiberium crystals (with green crystals being less valuable than blue crystals). These stones could be picked up and returned to collection areas or to your team's base, which could be redeemed for different tech levels to strengthen your forces with new vehicles or abilities. It took five points for Tech Level two and seven additional points for Tech Level three, so we were told that as the game went along, it was definitely worth a team's time to dedicate one player to crystal recovery to help their side "tech up." Any points captured by one side were shared by all players on that team, so it was quite easy to spread the wealth of upgrades for your units regardless of your strategy.

Air vs. Ground battles take on new tactical importance in multiplayer.

There was a secondary benefit to crystal gathering, which is that it played into the mode's objective based gameplay. Both sides were tasked with capturing different control nodes, which would further provide a stream of points for your side: the more nodes under your control, the faster the points came. These could be augmented by collecting crystals or destroying enemies. The latter was vital, because the more heavily armored or technologically advanced the unit was, the more points you received for destroying it. For example, taking out an enemy crawler was worth fifty points, with the added benefit that it removed an opponent from the field of battle for about thirty seconds. The first side to reach the currently set limit of 2500 points won the match, meaning that players could acquire victory with effective defense or overwhelming offensive tactics.

Speaking of tactics, players could use some of the included environmental objects scattered around the level to their advantage. While I was told that there would not be any mutants that could be pressed into service for one side or another, there would be neutral turrets found around the battlefield (frequently near control nodes and crystal collection points) that could be captured for your side. These weapons would automatically fire at any nearby threats, bolstering the firepower of forces nearby. Players were also able to take advantage of a tunnel network that ran from north to south on the map, allowing players to quickly deploy troops from one section to another without being subjected to attacks or forced to trek across the land. Each tunnel under GDI and Nod control had their own advantages as well, with GDI tunnels being protected by a shield and Nod tunnels emitting a cloaking sphere around its exit so units could deploy silently.

We're coming for your Crawler, GDI!

As for entering the match, GDI and Nod were arranged on the left and right hand edges of the map in large, fortified areas that were designated as spawn points for players during the match. Players could select anywhere they wanted to within the confines of this space, moving out as quickly as they wanted to establish forward bases or enter battle. Players needed to be aware of a significant twist to the gameplay, however. If a Crawler was destroyed in battle or a player switched classes in the middle of a game, players were forced to return to this location after a period of time before you were allowed to re-enter the battlefield. You also are forced to re-build any units you previously had in your production queue before your unit was destroyed. This prevents players from immediately leaping in the midst of skirmishes and unbalancing the forces that were there.